Richie Rich Award 2009

Today I assisted at Mass at St. Raymond’s in Fairfax Station. This isn’t my home parish but one that I often attend. What I love about living in the Diocese of Arlington is that virtually every parish is faithful in its teaching and liturgy. Today at Mass there was a visiting priest. He too offered solid catechesis from the pulpit. He spoke about hard facts: Jesus Christ is a Divine Person. He took on our human nature to redeem us from the death of Original Sin. Each of us has an immortal soul. Each of us will one day have a resurrected immortal body. Whether this immortal body and soul spends eternity in Heaven or in Hell depends on how well we do God’s will here on earth. God is merciful, but we have to do our part.

Did your parish mention Caritas in Veritate, the Pope’s latest Encyclical? We did not hear about it from the pulpit, but Father Gould gave a link to it in the Sunday bulletin. He also printed the opening passage of this document in the bulletin. He followed it with this commentary:

For others interested in current social issues that confront the
Church: The Central Party leadership in Washington has
opened the floodgates for embryonic stem cell
experimentation. The protocols of such research proposed by
the NIH (National Institute of Health) have found wide
opposition from both Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Of
course, such an action has left the lead Catholic surrogate for
the Central Party in trouble with the Church. His name is Mr.
Dough Kmiec, former dean of the law school for Catholic
University, who expounded that the embryonic research
should be considered “ethically sensitive.”
Cardinal Regali, chairman of the USCC Prolife Committee
was not so… sensitive, in his response to the problems. He
stated the new policy would be "more sweeping" than its Bush
administration predecessor, "encouraging the destruction of
new embryos including those not yet conceived."
Oh, and now the rest of the story: The Central Party leader in
Washington has named Mr. Doug Kmiec as the new U.S.
Ambassador to Malta. In response to such an honor, we give
Doug Kmiec the Richard Rich Award for 2009. He beat out
the Central Party vice president if for no other reason but that
he sports his original teeth and hairdo. But I digress.
Fr. G

God Bless Fr. Gould and all of our priests!